Kay Barsdell

She was a little English school girl, age nine, slightly pigeon-toed, growing up in the city of London in the 1950s. Her parents encouraged her to take ballet lessons in the hopes that full turnouts would retrain her feet, but what caught Kay’s imagination was ice skating. Every Sunday she and her dad would walk past Queens Ice Skating Rink in Bayswater, England, and it was there that Kay found a good reason to point her toes. “I skated during crowded public sessions in the evenings after school,” remembers Kay. “There was no freestyle ice like there is today, but I loved it.”

Little did she know, she was learning jumps and figures in England’s training ground for not one, but three world champion dance teams. Under the tutelage of Gladys Hogg, who had trained all three teams, Kay showed great promise and was introduced to Ken Foster, who became her skating partner. “At the time, I set my sights on this fabulous badge that skaters got when they joined the World Team,” says Kay. “That was an achievement in itself, and I still treasure it today.”

But with hard work, Kay and Ken won more than badges. They represented England in ice dancing, competing in four European Championships, four World Championships, and in 1976, the highest honor, the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.

After the Olympics, Kay and Ken’s career blossomed as they traveled the world as a team. For four years they skated competitively and did exhibitions, until 1978, when a prestigious job opportunity for two dance coaches presented itself in a small town just west of New York City. The rink was South Mountain Arena, now known as Richard J. Codey Arena, and thirty one years later, Kay still calls it her home. Some people still remember Ice-o-Rama and America on Ice, the big ice shows she choreographed with Ken in the 1980s.

Today Kay teaches dance, freestyle, moves in the field, synchronized skating, and even hockey skills. Most recently she coached and skated with the Essex Blades adult synchronized skating team, bringing them to victory at the 2008 Eastern Championships where they came in first place.